Post date: Jun 12, 2014 10:13:12 AM
The project combines recording, manipulation/perturbation, and simulation of hippocampal neural activity in rats solving complex spatial navigation problems in order to shed new light on the neural mechanisms and computational principles underlying (navigational) decision making in complex environments.
The research team includes Matthijs van der Meer (University of Waterloo, Canada), Caleb Kemere (Rice University, Houston, USA) and Giovanni Pezzulo (Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy). The research will use a tight and innovative combination of cutting-edge technology in in-vivo physiology including optogenetics, on-line decoding and perturbation, and computational modelling.
The project is funded by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) : an international program of research support implemented by the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) based in Strasbourg, France. It aims to promote intercontinental collaboration and training in cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research focused on the life sciences.